


Lemon Tea

by cmshaw



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Angst, Drama, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 01:12:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/792312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmshaw/pseuds/cmshaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When life gives you a lemon....</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lemon Tea

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This style is something of an experiment for me. I'm usually a very physical writer; I wanted to see if I could write a scene that was all dialog. It didn't look right in anglophone quotes, but for some reason the francophone indication of spoken lines worked (this is a style which always makes my tongue feel numbed when I read it, because it doesn't quite read as noise). 
> 
> Second note: No, I'm not quite back on track yet. I pulled this off the back shelf and found that with a little more work it was ready. Soon. I promise.

## Lemon Tea

by cmshaw

Author's webpage: <http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/6930/>

Author's disclaimer: Disclaimer: What, you mean the voices in my head _aren't_ the real thing?

* * *

\--Are you sure you're okay here? 

\--Jim, man, sit down already. They kept me in the hospital for-fucking-ever and I'm sure I can spend a few hours on the couch. 

\--Okay. 

\--So. When's the hearing? 

\--Day after tomorrow. 

\--...And? 

\--I don't know, Sandburg. I just don't know. It's not going to be a formality this time. 

\--I don't get it. You didn't have a choice -- 

\--You always have a choice. 

\--Well jeez. So sorry for preferring the scenario where I survive! 

\--Me too. Obviously. 

\--Then why the moping? 

\--I'm not moping, Sandburg. 

\--Jim. 

\--What if they give me back my badge and put me back on the streets? 

\--Isn't that what you want? I mean, that's good, right? 

\--I shot five people, Chief. 

\--In the line of duty. 

\--Backup was moving in. We could have arrested them. 

\--And in the meantime, I would've bled to death. 

\--Yes. I'm hoping to hit IA hard with the "officer down" line. 

\--Lucky for me I've got that badge, is that it? What would you have done if I were just plain ol' Mr. Sandburg still, let me die? 

\--No. 

\--I'm sorry. 

\--I wasn't thinking about your badge, Sandburg. 

\--I know, Jim. I'm sorry. ...What were you thinking about, then? 

\--I don't know. 

\--Come on, man. 

\--I don't know, Sandburg! I wasn't thinking, I was reacting. You went down, I moved to cover you until the EMTs got there. 

\--I remember you cussing me out for getting shot. 

\--Yeah, well. I was upset. 

\--You'd just killed five people. 

\--I didn't know that then. 

\--What did you think you'd done? 

\--Sandburg, I.... Look, they were obstacles. I removed them. End of story. 

\--I don't think IA's gonna like that. 

\--IA would lock me up as a sociopath. Maybe they'd be right. 

\--Whoa, man. Where'd that come from? 

\--You know how you've been trying for years to get me to, to focus in crises clearly enough to shoot accurately, I mean hyper-acute eyesight accurately? 

\--Yeah. 

\--How come it only works when I'm completely out of control? 

\--At the risk of sounding like something out of Star Trek, you need to "let go your conscious mind". 

\--That's Star Wars, not Star Trek. 

\--Whatever. Do you see what I mean? 

\--No. 

\--Look, it's, it's sort of a zen state, man. You can't get it by trying; you have to be not trying. 

\--I wasn't trying to kill people. 

\--Exactly. 

\--What do you mean, "exactly"? Exactly what? 

\--Simon said you dropped all five of them in under a minute, while all of them were behind cover and shooting back. How did you do that? 

\--I could hear them. I could even see them, where they were standing in front of the cinderblocks. 

\--See them? 

\--Like with nightvision goggles. The wall was cold. 

\--You couldn't see into infrared before. 

\--I just did it. 

\--And that is exactly what I mean. When you really needed to do it, you could. 

\--Right, so what happens the next time I get pissed off and need to kill someone, Blair? 

\--I don't think you were pissed off this time. 

\--Only at myself, for letting this happen. 

\--You were scared. 

\--Look -- 

\--You were scared, Jim. 

\--Sandburg -- 

\--Jim. Shut up. I know damn well you were scared. But you didn't panic, and that's the important thing here. You channeled it usefully. 

\--Simon was scared. Of me. 

\--Of you? 

\--Yeah. He thought I was berserk, or something like that. 

\--I suppose you were, in a way. 

\--He thinks it's because you're my lover. 

\--Didn't you tell him -- 

\--Jeez, Sandburg; yes, I told him. 

\--What, he thinks we're having some secret love affair and you won't even tell your best friend? 

\--Yeah. 

\--You're serious. Simon really thinks we're sleeping together. 

\--That's what I said. 

\--And you told him point-blank that we were just friends -- 

\--And he didn't believe me, yes. 

\--Well. I can see his side. Some days I even have trouble believing it. 

\--Yeah, I know what you mean. 

\--You too, huh? 

\--Well, some days. 

\--Maybe sometime we should try overlapping those days. See what happens. 

\--Um. Remind me again why we're not sleeping together, Chief? 

\--Fraternization regs. 

\--Right, right. 

\--Ethics on the use of humans as test subjects. Your heterosexuality. My heterosexuality. Inertia. Fear of breaking up our partnership. 

\--Yeah, I get it, Sandburg, okay? 

\--Still gotta wonder, though. 

\--Yeah, well, let's try not wondering while IA is breathing down our necks for breaking those fraternization rules. 

\--IA thinks --? 

\--They will once they talk to Simon. 

\--Shit, man. 

\--"Cop of the Year Revealed as Homosexual Mass Murderer". 

\--Cut it out, Jim. Be serious here. We need to figure out how to handle this. 

\--Seriously. Should I hand in my badge? 

\--No. 

\--How can you be so goddamned certain? 

\--I know you. I trust you. 

\--I killed -- 

\--Five people, yes. Five people who were at the time trying to kill you, and probably feeling a lot less remorse about it. 

\--Don't bet on it. 

\--Jim -- 

\--You don't understand me. 

\--Make me understand. 

\--You can't. You weren't there. 

\--There? There where? ...Is this some military black-ops assassin thing? 

\--You know I can't -- 

\--Jim, for chrissakes, talk to me. 

\--I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't, aren't I? These stupid senses.... How far can the ends justify the means, Blair? How far can I go before I'm out of line? 

\--If you're still asking, you haven't gone that far. 

\--That's a cop-out and you know it. 

\--What do you want me to say? 

\--I wish I were crazy. I wish I were sleeping with you. Some stupid sordid little affair would at least be understandable. 

\--Hey. "Sordid"? 

\--You're my roommate. And eight years younger than me. 

\--Seven years. 

\--You're still my roommate. 

\--And I'm not having any sort of affair with anyone until this gaping hole in my side heals a little more, thank you very much. 

\--Fine then. You know, you encouraged me in this. 

\--In what, homosexuality? 

\--Blair -- 

\--Sheesh, sorry. What did I encourage? 

\--Bending the rules. 

\--Only because you're such a stickler for the rulebook that we'd never get anything accomplished otherwise. 

\--Chief, since when have I ever obeyed the rules? 

\--Come on, man, you're always like, "Oh, we need this for evidence," and "Can't do that, it's not police procedure". 

\--Right. You want to sit in court again and try to explain that I visually ID'd a man across the length of a football field? 

\--No. Hell no. 

\--Neither do I. For all intents and purposes, I obtained that information illegally. 

\--It's not illegal to be a Sentinel! 

\--Sometimes it is. Illegal wiretaps, illicit lie detectors, searches without a warrant? 

\--You can't not use your gift, Jim. You're helping so many people -- 

\--We've been over this. 

\--You admitted I was right last time. 

\--I know. You were. 

\--Well then. 

\--How far does this rationalization go, Sandburg? 

\--As far as it has to. 

\--You can really be a cold-blooded bastard when you want to be, can't you. 

\--"Check your emotions at the door". That's your lesson, remember? 

\--Check your ethics, too? 

\--No. 

\--Oh, I see. I just trust in you and you'll tell me what's right. 

\--Isn't that what you were just asking me? To tell you what to do about this IA investigation? 

\--No! 

\--Jim, look. I don't know what to tell you here, okay? I didn't see what happened; I was lying face down at the time and not paying attention. No matter what happens, though, thank you for saving my life. 

\--How am I supposed to answer that? 

\--You're not. You're supposed to nod and say "you're welcome", then go make me some tea. 

\--Peppermint or lemon? 

\--Lemon. 

\--Blair? 

\--Yeah? 

\--You're welcome. 

\--You too, Jim. 

End. 


End file.
